


We Give It All We Got

by soitshaunted



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: A little warning of unreality later on, Angst, Blood and Violence, Canon bad language, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nothing violent now but I'll change the rating later if that changes, Parallel Universes, Violence now! Mention of blood and wounds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2020-12-14 00:49:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21006953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soitshaunted/pseuds/soitshaunted
Summary: Waking up to a purple sky, burnt partially orange from the morning suns was a common occurrence in Taako's lifetime. What makes this morning unusual is that this happened after their 100 cycle journey in the other fucking planar direction.Taako's quite proud of himself to only have panicked a little.





	1. Chapter 1

There’s the sound of limbs moving slowly over loose sheets. Morning air filters in from the cracked window on the far wall, Taako can’t see it but he feels its presence. Warm, dry, summer nights are a blessing, it’s his favorite time of the year; mostly because of the cool body he’s wrapped around currently. As Taako pulls himself up from a good, slightly drunk, full bellied sleep, he feels the cool fingers brush through his hair. A familiar motion ever since he started growing out his hair again. 

Taako kisses the nearest field of skin within view, and receives a reverberating chuckle as well earned payment. 

“Awake already?” Kravitz’s voice comes from buried in his hair, “It’s not even noon yet.” 

Taako hums in response and buries his face deeper into the embrace. 

“More reason to go back to sleep bones.” 

Another chuckle. 

“How do you feel? You and Lup drank a fair share last night.” 

Taako feels comfortably warm from the bright orange sunlight spilling over his back and sheets, perfectly positioned at the halfway point between awake and asleep. Like taking fantasy nyquil when sick, but not dealing with the morning repercussions of drool gluing him to the pillow, or his nose being clogged. Taako feels like he’s floating, a good night under his belt, and a good man under his body. 

“Don’t remember much, no hangover though, lucked out on that, maybe that good ol’ con score is helping me out in ways that matter now,” Taako breathes deeply, stares at the sheets to his side, “How are you? Finally cursed with a goddessly hangover?” 

“No such luck,” Taako can feel Kravitz smile into their embrace. 

Taako starts to feel restless, no getting back to sleep then. But no limbs are falling asleep from an awkward angle, he should be melting right now. He squirms a bit, adjusting the fit of their legs together, pulls the sheets up further. He has this background energy, like he should be up and moving. 

“Do we have anything today?” Taako asks softly, a bit tired, there’s something he’s forgotten. What he wants right now is to relax into Kravitz’s skin until at least ten, and then go make an easy, but filling breakfast. Maybe indulge in some mimosas, keep some of the warmth going. But that would be dashed if he forgot a meeting with Ren, or any of the board members of the academy. Taako would prefer it be a family activity planned, but the restlessness of his body goes deeper than forgetting to make the little pastries Magnus always eats too much of. 

“No, it’s summer love. No class today,” A soft reply, understanding at what Taako is after, “Barry and Lup said they might stop by today.” Ah, good. Nothing new if the two of them see Taako in his jammies, a hundred years of comfort assured that. 

“Right. Good. Cool,” It’s like there’s an itching at the back of Taako’s mind, “You know? I’m gonna go make us some good french toast. It’s what we deserve.” 

Kravitz clings for a second as Taako wiggles himself out and up, trailing his fingers through the elf’s hair as he pulls away. Taako rests, straddling Kravitz for a moment, hands running over the other’s chest. The mornings light reaches Kravitz too, and he looks heavenly; brown eyes practically glowing. Everything's perfect, Taako forces himself to breathe in slowly. 

He turns away from Kravitz as he gets up from their bed, and that breath of air is ejected with a force as Taako looks to the window. His knees buckle, and he drops, not out of eyesight of the view. 

The sky is painted like a deep sunset. Orange at its base, and a light lavender reaching up and over. Two suns barely peak from the surrounding houses that block the entire view of the horizon. 

“Holy shit,” Taako blinks the sharpness of tears away, and goes through deep breaths that hiccup towards their end, “How are we-- How am I? Here?” Taako’s hands reach for a belt that does not exist. When he looks up again Kravitz is there, blocking the purple sky, blocking the two suns. 

“Taako?” Gentle hands reach to his shoulder, cautious and firm, “Taako are you alright?” 

“Yeah-- just. Fuck, how did we get here? You’re seeing this too? How did we get back onto the home world?” Taako is looking at Kravitz’s eyes, no longer lit by the binary suns behind him, they’re soft and confused, and there’s that little scrunch in Kravitz’s forehead he always liked. 

“Back? Taako, we’ve always been here? You’ve always been here?”

“What? Kravitz-- bones-- IPRE, the hunger, all that jazz? I don’t know how we’re here without the belts--” Kravitz is almost hugging Taako at this point. Confused at what to do but trying to give some mode of comfort. 

Kravitz tries to give a reassuring smile at Taako, it’s forced and awkward. 

“Taako, I don’t know what those are? Did you hurt your head? Are you still drunk? From last night, you said it wasn’t that much love. Please, I uh, I don’t know how to help you?”

“I’m not drunk. I feel fine,” Taako’s shaking, “I’m from here, but we left. On our spaceship, the hunger came down, and ate this world. And we left. But, we saved it all. I just don’t know how I’m back here, how you’re here?” 

“Love,” Kravitz’s next words come out in a comforting reluctance of someone trying to hold everything together, to be the calm one in the situation, “I think you’re confused. Or something. That’s not-- When I met you and Lup, it was here, at the college? Remember, in their lab? In the-- You were born here, you’ve always been here, we can call Lup right now and see her. I could get you Merle? To check you out?” 

Taako’s staring at his husband, his husband? 

“Yeah. Yes please, god yes, call Lup.” Taako’s still shaking but he has theories now, because he’s not losing it, he doesn’t disassociate that hard. Taako can guess at what’s going on. 

Kravitz reaches the few feet over to Taako’s nightstand and pulls his stone over, tuning it to a frequently used frequency. It rings only a few times before Taako hears his sisters voice over the speaker. 

“Taaks. It’s not even noon yet babe, I know you ducked out before me but--” 

“Lup,” Kravitz is still looking at Taako, studying his face, “can you come over? Everyone’s fine but. I think Taako needs you right now.” 

“Oh, um. Yes, yeah,” The sound of rustling over the speaker for a few seconds before his sister’s voice returns, “I’ll be there, just a few minutes, let me wake up Bear. I’ll be there Taako.” 

Kravitz thanks her before ending the call; then moving closer to Taako, if that were possible at this point, Kravitz feels overbearing at this point. That’s because Taako’s stomach has dropped, and sank through both stories of their house to the molten core. He is flustered and hot with anxiety. The panicky energy just exacerbating at the comforting touches. 

“Taako, do you want me to get Merle too?” There’s a serious edge to Kravitz’s voice. 

“No. Just Lup is fine. This is fine. Taako’s all good here, promise,” It sounds like a lie even to himself. 

It takes more than the reported few minutes for Lup to arrives, and Taako is surprised by the sound, of not fabric ripping, but of the door downstairs being opened and shut. As Taako hears his sister speak to Barry, probably to station him downstairs, as to not overcrowd, his brow creases. Why could she go through the front door? Then there’s footsteps as Lup climbs the stairs and comes down the hall, and finally,  _ finally _ their bedroom door opens. 

And there is Lup. Taako flinches back. 

That is his sister, it is. He knows. But the twelve years, and the ten years of after, of age Taako wears is now reflected onto Lup. Though elven aging is slow, Taako can tell this is not the eternally youthful body of a bounty hunter of the Raven Queen.  _ What the fuck. _

That must read on his face, or in his body language. Lup, who had been advancing, takes a step back, and puts her hands up. 

“Woah okay, got it personal space bud, I getcha’,” Lup looks concerned, she wraps her arms around herself, “What’s up in here? We wanna talk about it?” 

Kravitz speaks for him, “Taako’s not-” A glance downward, “Taako remembers different things than I do?” 

“Oh, Okay. Like what?” 

Taako speaks up, “IPRE, the cycles, the hunger, Faerun, etc. Lup please tell me, that like, any of that rings a bell.” He’s starting to untangle from Kravitz, the touch isn’t unwanted, but even if one half of their duo doesn’t produce body heat, Taako still finds himself too warm. 

Lup shakes her head minutely, looking more concerned. 

“Okay. Cool cool cool cool cool. What,” Taako breathes, still shaking, but damn it if he’s not going to be calm, “do you remember then?” 

Lup takes a minute to answer. Opens her mouth, closes it, and back open again to ask, “Where? Do you want me to start?” 

“Both of us had a shitty childhood?” Taako decides to speed this up. 

“Yeah,” Lup answered.

“Stayed with Grandpa Tostada til he kicked it?”

“Yes” 

“Moved around, in caravans, learnt shitty cantrips from the bathroom reader” 

“Still have it in the kitchen” 

“Then you-- cause I--”

Lup didn’t have to answer verbally, he saw the answer in her eyes. Time to jump forward. 

“The Light fell, then we applied to IPRE.”

This is where Lup frowned, “No, Koko, we applied to the Neverwinter Academy of the Arcane” 

Taako took in a breath. The Neverwinter Academy definitely hadn’t existed on their home planet. Before the light fell, they barely had wagons working let alone a fully operating college. 

Lup had a desperate look in her eyes, she really wanted him to remember. Ouch. He’d been on the other end of that stare after -- after whatever happens occasionally. When he just forgets to remember. That hadn’t happened for five years now, and it wasn’t happening now. 

“We applied to NAA and we-- and we got accepted, natch. I met Barry. You met Magnus and Merle. Taako please tell me you know who they are?” Lup steps forward, and Taako steps back. Kravitz, usually a comforting body, now felt like a pillar over Taako, and Lup. Lup had the same restless energy he did, Taako knew if this happened on a  _ normal _ day they’d be in for an afternoon of twin time. Maybe they could still have that. 

“I’m going to say something, a little off base to you,” This wasn’t really a time to worry about being seen as crazy but, Taako did think taking this a bit slower would help. 

“Okay, that’s fine. We’re here for that,” Lup, now also trying to be the calm one in the room, added. Kravitz nodded, stepped minutely forward, staying back mostly. 

“I don’t think I’m from this universe,” Taako could tell by the looks on their face that this had not been slow enough, “Which is, like, not a crazy idea from where I’m from. We had planar travel already. That’s where I thought I was at first. Because. We traveled away from our original plane-- And oh boy did that look  _ a lot like this one _ . But. If it was, you wouldn’t be here.” 

Lup’s nodding, not understanding, but not dismissively. Good start then. Kravitz is just staring at him, still confused, a little less confused. 

Taako continued, “Where we-- ended up -- where we ended up, there was uh, similarities to where we left. Merle,  _ of course I remember Merle who could forget? _ Merle had cousins that were the same people in both planar systems. But none of us had copies. We figured,” and here Taako laughed a bit, “ _ fate _ had a hand in that. There was just enough there to give us a sign this was it. That was the last stop.” Taako paused here. Lup looked better from the admission to having remembered at least one member of their family. 

“So it’s, uh, like my scythe?” Kravitz hesitantly asked. Taako nodded frantically, grasping this node of understanding. A little part of him sags with the relief that his husband is still employed by the goddess of death.

“Yeah! Yes. But as a boat, a ship, ya know? And you can only stay in this planar system?” 

Kravitz nods.

“Yeah so you can cart back and forth to mama bird, we went out-- way further. But this? Where I’m at with you now has to be different. Because you  _ know me _ ,” Taako turns to Lup, “And you’re my sister. There weren’t copies of us.” 

Lup loosens her arms from the stiff position wrapped around her body. They tilt up slightly, a tentative offer. Taako, despite himself, despite knowing that this isn’t  _ his sister per say _ , and rather another Taako’s sister somewhere, walks quickly forward. Fully returning the offer with an enthusiastic hug in return. Kravitz stands back, eyes trailing over the two, over Taako. 

“Can we go? Talk this out with Barry too? Maybe make some cocoa?” Lup is rubbing circles into his back as she says this. Taako had almost forgotten Barry was still there, as silent as he was in the house below. He nods quickly. 

“Yah, I would love that right now.” 

All three of them are shaky and cautious as they make their way down. Kravitz trailing behind the mismatched twins. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are explained. Something weird happens. Taako re-meets his family again.

There have been _ more _ awkward IPRE kitchen meetings than this. But this is still high in the ranks. There’s something incredibly off-putting to discover the people you love have aged tenish years overnight. Even more so when seeing that age on Barry as a stark fifty year old man. A hundred years in your forties was definitely a blessing to a human like him, and here he is having lived none of that, and still looking older. 

“So NAA huh? What’d we do there?” After explaining to Barry the little information both groups had shared with each other they had fallen into silence. Time to get the ol Taako ball rolling, get that deep lore of his apparent other self. 

Lup spoke, “Uh, evocation and transmutation of course. _ Of course _?” Taako nodded, Lup continued, “Barry was TA-ing one of the elective necromancy courses. That’s how we met.” Taako felt nervous about the prospect of fishing for this next piece of information, so much seemed to have changed, and if this reality never had an IPRE then. Well. 

“Do… do we have any good friends outside of this couple unit?” Taako hoped his voice sounded even as he asked. 

“Right! Yes, Magnus and Merle obvs, I asked you earlier about them remember?” Taako gave a nod, still hoping for the others to have shown in this reality’s narrative. Lup continued, “We met Davenport, and Lucretia at the Academy as well.” Taako gave a relieved sigh. A hundred years turned him into a softy, sue him for being invested in his alternate friend’s continued existence. 

“Main groups the same, thats uh, good to know,” replied Taako, motioning for Lup to go on. 

“You met Magnus and Merle in your physical education credit, Jazz dance. Merle’s married to Dav, so he came to hangouts eventually, but he teaches at the Academy too. Baby Luce was in my english core course.” 

“Cool Cool. That uh, makes sense. That’s the full IPRE gang. Hand picked by Captain Dad’n’port himself, to yeet ourselves into the next planar system for three months. But. _ That didn’t exactly happen _ \-- And you know? I blame it entirely on the good ol Captain for picking _ six magic users, that’s just asking for trouble-- _” Taako cuts himself off when Lup and Barry start to look concerned. 

“Right. So we’re domestic here? What do we even _ do?” _ Taako asks, he will riot if he’s not putting his fucking transmutation doctorate to good, or at least chaotic good, use. Taako looks to Barry for this cause he really needs this man to speak and not just sit there like a wooden doll. _ A wooden jean doll? _

“Oh uh. Lup got her doctorate which kept us pretty busy? We’re doing some pretty interesting research on the elemental planes right now, nothing outside of our system though? _ That’s wild. _” Barry looks to Lup before continuing,”But you, uh, chose to leave the doctorate program two years in. You’ve been teaching at the high school ever since. ‘Bout eleven years now.”

“High school?” Taako wheezes out. If he thought switching from interplanar traveler, to traveling show cook was shocking, working in public education, with _ none of his credentials _ was a new blow. Taako blamed the sudden pit of anxiety on the loss of his four doctorates. It wasn’t that. “Oofa doofa, am I at least running the place?” 

Lup seems off put that this is news, “Uh. No. You’ve been teaching home economics. Cooking. Do _ you _ like cooking?” 

“_ Yes of course, _” Taako rushes out, “It’s just back home I own the school, I built it. Private institution, real classy. Lot’s of wizard duels. Fuck. What day is it? Do I actually have to go teach these garbage students?” 

Lup, thank god, laughs and cheers up minorly at the dueling comment, “Nah brobro. It’s actually Saturday? This doesn’t seem like a weekend fix though. We should probably call up the school to give them a head's up about this sitch.” 

“Right. Defo. Hope this Taako’s got some sick days saved up am I right? This is a whole thing. I can’t be expected to work under these conditions--” Taako was rambling again, he rubbed his hands over his criss crossed arms, “Besides! Children? Pff. Who needs ‘em? Can’t _ stand _ a bunch of.. of..” Taako finishes weakly at the thought of one boy detective, not here, potentially not existing? Taako snaps his head up to look at Lup, Barry, and Kravitz in turn. 

Kravitz steps up to the plate for this one, “Oh, actually we keep a guest room open. I don’t want to presume? Is there an Angus McDonald in your world?”

Taako wheezes out a breath, “_ Cool cool cool cool. _Yes. Good. Yes. How’d y’all get to know that little shit?” 

Kravitz smiles, reminiscing, a vague look on his face, “You became his mentor, dear. Magnus and Julia officially adopted him after he got to know all of us but--” 

“Julia’s here?” Taako whispers, soft. It’s been five years post Story and Song, and everyone has done their best, going to therapy, trying to settle, which tres horny boys adventures _ counts _ as settling, or at the very least, counts as something cathartic. But, and there’s always a big But, Magnus had only just begun to share about Julia. Not that anyone from the original crew can’t see the weight there, see the edges of where this person used to exist. Taako’s thinking about those edges now, and he does desperately want the grief eased from Magnus’s frame, from all of them really, but seeing the group, _ their crew, _ altogether without the weight of their lives suddenly scares Taako more than anything. 

He’s breathing hard. He doesn’t know when he started breathing hard. Seeing Lup aged, was rough, it wasn’t even much for elf standards, but enough for him to know. Seeing the entirety of IPRE, grow old, age, _ and not know what they’ve accomplished _, was heartbreaking to Taako. 

Kravitz comes closer now, puts a hand to Taako’s face, and those anxieties are lifted from his mind at almost dizzying speeds. It’s like a veil has floated between Taako and that line of thinking. 

“Dear, everything’s going to be fine.” Kravitz says, and then like an echo, Taako repeats _ everything’s going to be fine _, in his mind. Taako stares. And then he blinks. He breathes again and feels refreshed, and he turns to the two others. 

“Right! So it’s too early to be thinking of how to get out of this mess, but I think I know one thing!” Taako proclaims, filled with more energy than he had the right to be. 

“What’s that bud?” Barry responds. 

“I’m here! I’m here in this fucking entirely different reality! And _ your _Taako isn’t!” Taako paused for dramatic effect, “I’m here, I’m willing to bet he’s over in my world!” The expected applause sounds in his head, Barry and Lup suddenly look ignited too by that information. 

“It’s safe right? You implied some dangerous stuff going on with the planar travel but, that’s all over now right?” Ignited but worried, Lup is the master of both. 

“‘Natch. I’m not quite the trophy husband that this Taako is, I get out, I have a whole school to run, but defo safe assuming dos horny boys and my darling sister are quick on the upkeep.” Taako is confident in himself of course, but right now most of that confidence is placed with the Taako who is 1. together with the world's top five arcanists, and 2. has the quicker hop from established planar technology to the idea of crossing the boundaries of reality. Taako’s going to be startin’ from scratch over here, but he’ll be damned if he’s going to be the patient damsel in distress for his crew to save. 

“Now move over, cha’ boy here is gonna make some french toast while Lulu does her best impression of Grandpa Tostada to call me in as sick for work Monday. Barry? Call up the fam, if Lulu and you are wearing the past decade on your sleeves I want to revel in the glory of looking the part of young and dumb amongst my peers” 

Something nags at the back of his mind. A reminder of therapy to not bottle up emotions, but just as quick, that thought too is pulled under the veil. 

The background noise of his sister, Barry, and Kravitz stays as a comforting reminder that his family is here, even in a different form, and the ease of cooking a well practiced dish further distances Taako from this mornings stress. 

Family travel works slightly different here since Barry and Lup aren’t on the reaper squad, which is to say instead of popping in on a whim, people are actually called. It seems very convenient to Taako that this life alerting switch happens on a slow weekend, when people can come in for lunch, and be told of this freakish parent trap parody. 

The idea of this was fine to Taako, he’s sure, at their base they’re still his family. Lup still _ emotes _ like his sister, which is incredibly weird a different lifetime didn’t change that. Taako gets no time to think at all about how this Lup physically acts before he hears Kravitz rip a hole in the fabric of space, and pull someone through. 

And this. This is weird. 

Taako is used to the gang’s recorded states. Taako is also used to the humans of the group aging over the past five years. Taako was very used to Lucretia’s lost twenty years, white haired and wrinkled. 

Taako is not used to Lucretia owning the fuck out of her thirties. 

“You know when Barry said you were from an alternate reality, I expected something more exciting,” It’s said with a smile that is still youthful, and still incredibly warm. 

Taako is reeling, again from emotions, but from the section of, _ oh shit me and Lucretia have been kind of good lately but it’s still weird and I’m still mad and I can’t put this emotional baggage on an almost entirely different person. _Which is a very specific set of emotions that Taako never imagined he would feel in his lifetime. 

“Lup?” Lucretia calls into the living room playfully, “You sure the reality travel didn’t melt this Taako’s brain?” 

“Okay well, that’s interesting. _ My _Lucretia knows how to respect her elders,” Absolute bullshit, but Taako will be damned if he’s not going to go sass for sass. But this Lucretia looks like she knows that’s bullshit too. 

“Oh I believe that. Definitely. Absolutely. Glad I can cement myself as the best version of my selves.” This Lucretia wears sarcasm just as well it seems. 

There’s a rip in the world again, and Taako is raised up into a patented Magnus bear hug. And this Magnus is almost familiar. He looks closest to when the tres horny boys were working for the Bureau. This comes as less of a shock. Which Taako is glad enough for, that he almost lets himself melt into the bear hug. 

“It’s weird to ask ‘cause I haven’t met ya, but how’ve ya been Taako?” Magnus asks as he lets Taako drop, and gives Lucretia an amenable and friendly regular hug, no lifting required. 

“Uh. Pretty shocking if I’m being real my man. Being somewhere with two suns again will do wonders for my vitamin c deficiency,” Easy responses, Taako is taking this easy. 

Magnus booms out a chuckle, “Good! You’ll have to come over and re-meet all the dogs! Best thing in the world for good health.” Magnus’s face does nothing to contain his excitement over that idea. 

Shortly enough, Merle and Davenport arrive. Taako is glad his previous panic attack has been pushed aside for good goofs between familiar enough people. Taako imagines that it helps that Merle and Dav haven’t aged.

The whole group is seated in Kravitz’s comfortable living room, and though it belongs to another elf, Taako takes no time to make himself as lounge ready as possible. Though there are differences between the people, Taako has to take a step back to admire the uncanniness of the house. 

There’s a reason Taako didn’t notice what had changed, every detail to the sheets, to the furniture, to the items in the cupboards are the same. Taako eyes a wine stain partially hidden by the large center rug, faded from last year’s Candlenights. If Taako closed his eyes, and let the casual conversations around him seep in, to not think about the young Lucretia, the older Barry, then he could imagine that nothing had ever happened. That he was still in his correct reality, and that everyone had simply stayed over to recover from their mild drunkenness last night. 

It was nice. 

Taako steeled himself for the conversation ahead, and opened his eyes once more. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! 
> 
> One week streak of keeping my schedule so go me.  
I think this is a bit shorter than the last one but it established what I wanted it too so.  
Also! What do you all think about that interaction with Kravitz ;)  
That might come up again later!  
I think next week I'm going to shift to original Lup's perspective/ how she and the others are handling this situation  
See you next Saturday!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This time we look over to how the Starblaster crew has been handling this problem

Seeing the efficiency at which the Starblaster crew searches for one of their own is not new to Lup. There had been plenty of planes where one of them got lost, or taken, or killed, out on a scouting mission, or even when wandering through a marketplace on a seemingly friendly world. A hundreds years led to a lot of experience in grief of a missing loved one. 

What Lup had not seen before, in its entirety, was the difficulty and trauma deeply entrenched from looking for her umbrastaff’d self. 

Lup didn’t understand at first. It built up quick, the tension in everyone’s shoulders. This was a grief she had only seen in Barry in the awful nights and days he got little sleep, relapses into memory of a search that did not end for a decade. Seeing it on him, on the whole crew, was demoralizing at best. And it was far beyond being at its worst. 

But Taako had been gone for a month and a half. 

They had breakfast, the four of them, and the reaper crew had departed for their daily rounds in the eternal stockade. No big discrepancies in the Raven Queen’s law had been brewing, so, guard duty or paper work. Lup had a preference for not being a pencil pusher. It was normal. Mundane. Almost tedious, if Lup could ever get over the surrounding magic and fascination of the astral plane. 

Kravitz had gotten home at his usual time, to a house undisturbed. A house that no longer had Taako in it, and this wasn’t abnormal, Taako was a busy person. Leaving notes had grown to be a sore spot between them all, a note was expected to be left. But there wasn’t a message on any of their stones. 

When Kravitz had called Lup and Barry, he had already called Taako and received no answer. Lup, and she imagined all three of the reapers, had been struck with an immediate stomach dropping anxiety when none of them had a message from her brother. They were nothing if not efficient when calling the main crew of friends. Methodically receiving the same negative of seeing or hearing from the elf. 

It was worrying already, at this first phase. This first thought of, maybe Taako went out, forgotten his stone somewhere. And though they had all loathed to think, maybe had a relapse in memory issues that had not plagued him to such a serious degree in years. 

If Lup’s stomach had dropped to her knees at this initial series of thought, it dropped to the center of this planet upon sensing out for her brother, for her other half, searching for a soul so easily seen after joining the Raven Queen’s retinue, and finding nothing. 

Lup was not as powerful as Kravitz in this particular skill set, he had five hundred years on them in reaping experience, it was a given that he would be able to reach farther. Lup had sensed outward for her brothers presence, covering most of Neverwinter, felt nothing, and looked immediately to Kravitz. 

Things got grimmer after Kravitz spent more than a minute reaching outward. When Kravitz had come to, he had no better results than Lup’s initial search. 

This skill was not infallible. Reaper’s couldn’t just spend their days training the length at which they can reach outward, and immediately find the souls corrupted via violation of the laws of death. Things were not so easy. But a soul with familiarity? That was open to this innate sensing? Taako’s soul should’ve lit up like a beacon if he were in the trio’s vicinity. 

The Starblaster crew, the world's best detective, and the competent duo of Carey and Killian were assembled. And a month and a half had passed with agonizing quickness. 

Time felt like sand slipping from Lup’s fingers, she figured becoming functionally immortal would stop her perception of that. 

Lup had been scrubbing at the same pot for the last ten minutes feeling time fleet by with tedious quickness. Barry was asleep at the kitchen table, empty bowl of chili besides him, face down on a map with large swathes of circled areas, varying in colors and sizes. 

Wrinkled hands took the pot from the stream of water and Lup’s harsh scrubbing, drying it with a towel and set it aside to the rest of the drying dishes. Lup let her hands hang limply into the sink.

“Didn’t think we’d be back here, ya know?” Lucretia’s tone was lighthearted as she steered Lup to a nearby chair. 

Lup hummed in response. 

Lucretia dug out the kettle from the cabinet, “I was busy the first time during your initial search. But after, I took up a lot of Barry’s work. It was useful in trying to dig the relics back up as well, wish I could sound completely altruistic in saying I kept looking for you. I won’t dig up that argument though.” Water set to boil, tea and honey grabbed from the pantry, two large mugs rinsed of their coffee stains, and wiped clean. 

“You can hear it from Taako when we get him back,” The comment from Lup lacked the enthusiasm and fight she had four weeks ago. The guilt of being run barren from so little time, despite Barry and Taako keeping this up for almost two years, slammed into her like a ram. 

Lucretia let out a laugh, rubbing her hands from her eyes down her face, before crossing her arms and leaning against the counter, “Oh, I’m sure I won’t hear the end of it until you all put me in my grave.” Where Lup had forgiven Lucretia easily, the bond of siblinghood took longer to rebuild between her and Taako. The arguments were mostly performative at this point, but Taako would occasionally send a sharp jab to remind Lucretia of the real hurt she had caused. 

“You said you checked in with Istus and the Raven Queen again today yah?” Lucretia prompted.

Lup let out a deep and long running sigh, “Yeah. Same old news. RQ can’t sense his soul, and his fate line is the same.” After the first week of searching, the reaper trio tearing to various spots spread far apart the continent, and sensing for Taako at random, it was not surprising to learn that the Raven Queen could not see his soul on this mortal plane. What was important was that he hadn’t been checked into the Astral plane. 

It wasn’t too out of the way for a soul to be hidden from the Raven Queen though. It was  _ fucking hard _ , and took a lot of shady ass magic to do it, but it was a feat accomplished by necromancers before. 

The other half of Lup’s new routine check in, was more the oddity. Istus could see Taako’s present coming in hot off the presses. But it didn’t make sense. It was blurry, half phased out, gone at times, but Istus confirmed that it was Taako at home, with Kravitz. 

Whatever could fool fate into seeing the wrong present of an individual was bad fucking news. Lup shuddered thinking about Taako dealing with a monster like that. 

Lucretia had shown her displeasure on her face at the news of the same old. Before the electric kettle clicked, and its contents distributed between the two cups. 

Lup leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her eyes, staying that way and listening to the slight bustle of noise Lucretia made during the tea preparation. A hot mug was pressed to Lup’s hand, and she unfolded herself to take the mug, and blew on the tea. 

Lucretia sat opposite to Lup, in another chair taken from the table tableau. 

Taking a sip of the tea, Lup raised an eyebrow, “Did you put booze in this Lucy?” 

“My treat.” The older woman gave a devilish grin. 

Barry let out a minute groan, before shifting on the kitchen table and continuing his slumber. 

“Was it this bad? When I was gone?” Lup practically whispered the question. She didn’t know if she should feel happy at a confirmation of the depth of worry her family had. 

“Hm. In some ways. I mean, I was holed up for most of it, you know? But the first six months when I was still actively participating it was like a slow decline. We didn’t have three reapers working on it back then, so results were less concrete, slower too. Not knowing if you were dead was a double edged sword. Let everyone kept believing you’d just saunter back in one day,” Lucretia swallowed down a large mouthful of tea, “Now having confirmation might be worse. We know something’s wrong between Taako not being dead, but not being sensed out. None of us can pretend that maybe he’s just lost anymore. All of our imagination is spent on thinking about worst case scenarios, instead of sharing half that brain space with foolhardy hopes.”

Lup nodded. There are a lot of monsters, and necromancers with agendas out there. They’re world famous now too, which inspired admiration, but also bitterness into the populace of Faerun. Lup wasn’t sure if now they technically had more enemies than when they did running from the Hunger. How many entities did the blob of nihilism count as?

Lup looked over to where Kravitz was deep asleep on the couch. Oofa doofa. Bone boy spent most of his days expending every spell slot he had looking for her brother, his husband. Even immortal reapers aren't immune to the repercussions of emptying the magic tank hard and fast. 

Kravitz had been odd the entire search. Shaking hands, wild eyes, grasping for more contact from Lup and Barry, which was unexpected but not unwelcome. Lup has a sickening feeling that this is the first unequal exit someone has made in the long life of the reaper. 

Kravitz wasn’t a stranger to grief, having gory beginnings in his death and subsequent offered position, but Lup also knew he hadn’t gotten this close to someone in his afterlife. Give it up for her brother for melting the introverted heart of death himself. 

“You should get some sleep Lup. In an actual bed, don’t follow Barry’s example there,” Lucretia says pointedly over the rim of her mug, breaking the silence of the house. Taako and Kravitz’s house had become base for this operation, but Lup and Barry still had a guest bedroom, as did all of the crew, and boy genius himself. 

Stretching, Lup sets her mug onto the counter, before picking the weight of her body of the chair. Reaching her hands over her head, letting her spine click and pop in a few places before taking a deep breath. 

“Yeah. You’re right,” Lup then looks Lucretia in the eyes, “You’re not immune to your own advice though, doubly so since you’re squishy and human.” 

Lucretia’s eyes twinkle, and her crows feet ease into a tired smile. Lucretia nods before grabbing the two mugs and setting them in the sink. 

“Need any help carrying Barry up?” The older woman offers.

“Nah, I got this,” Lup turns to Barry, “Gonna make him do half the work getting up there.” 

Lup gives Lucretia a smile of appreciation before walking over to her husband, and shaking him gently. Barry rouses with some difficulty, and even then is not awake enough to form a sentence. Lup hoists him into standing before he can drop back into sleep, brings his arm over her shoulder, grasping the rest of him in a half hug, and begins their journey out of the kitchen and upstairs to their awaiting guest room. 

The liquor sits heavily in Lup’s stomach as the guilt ridden ram hits her again, the blow softened by Lucretia’s voice in her head insisting on rest. They’ve all been grinding through this, but they can’t dissolve into dust from the search. Even rest contributes to finding her lost brother. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! 
> 
> No update saturday cause I unexpectedly had to cover babysitting for my roommate while she went out of town.   
I'll post updates on whether I'll be late on my tumblr theyjustwalkoffthedamnthing, feel free to go over there and talk about the fic with me too! I might discuss and tag spoilers for future stuff/ the plans I had for this fic depending on the question
> 
> Also i wrote, edited and posted this in one setting so hopefully there's no obvious mistakes, it's big late where I'm at and I'm big sleepy.
> 
> Hope you all are enjoying the fic, thank you sm for all the lovely feedback I've been getting!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into Kravitz's grief, and Taako thinks he made dinner with Angus.

Kravitz had woken up, in his collapsed position on the couch, slowly, and acheningly. His joints burned. Not just from the fast set pace in moving mathematically location to location, but the memories of centuries old pain. Kravitz began his climb upward into the plane of the living with wrist stretches, thinking how it was silly of his form to be remembering the pain of playing his conduit instrument. Kravitz looked over to where his violin laid on the coffee table. Smooth wood against the glass, glowing in the morning light. 

He had taken up his instrument in earnest again, in hopes of deepening the magical reserves granted by his queen, to further the search. Kravitz had kept up his musical talent throughout the years in her service, the act of playing still held reminiscence and nostalgia, now especially layered with memories of playing for his husband in recent years. 

Kravitz pointedly began to stretch again. Ignoring the pinpricks in his eyes. Ignoring the emptiness of the shared house, just as full as any holiday, but desperately missing the largeness of Taako’s personality. 

Kravitz stands, folds the blanket previously covering him, and lays it atop the couch, before heading up to the master bathroom to refresh himself. The nagging thought of where these habits had manifested set him off balance, before dying down quietly into the back of his mind. Routines were easy. Routines were for mortals. Routines were really helping Kravitz compartmentalize and keep his form up and running, despite the lack of need for food, water, or breath. 

But this morning, it’s really not doing what it was meant to do. Kravitz steams the bathroom when the hot water hits his cold skin. Kravitz is caught in waves of loss that, for this last month, had been threatening to consume him. Looking at the numerous oils, jellies, sponges, perfumes, capsules, all full of bright scents, scattered across the light blue interior of the room, evidence of someone lost, Kravitz was pained.

Grief washes over in pulses of static and suffocating weight, Kravitz lets it as he slides down against the wall of tiles. Grief isn’t new to Kravitz. At some point Kravitz had to mourn his own death, as hazy as those memories are, as hazy are the memories of the family that had left long before he did. But true permanent loss during his time in service to the Raven Queen was rare. Kravitz couldn’t pop over and have tea with every mortal man he had taken a fancy to in the five hundred years, but he received far more closure in drawn out farewells, and rare visits into those still not fully integrated with the sea of souls. 

Permanent loss did not exist when Kravitz thought of Taako and his family. Kravitz always imagined a retirement date with Taako, to join his husband in acceptance of the beyond he has kept himself from. 

Kravitz’s thoughts shifted. To failed bounties, of all the scattered remains of souls, remains of dark necromantic rituals, torn and unrecognizable, siphoned for their energy and cast out as the rituals failed and imploded upon themselves. Thinking of his husband’s soul being left as one of those remains. His hands shook, his whole body shook. 

Kravitz’s failure of speed, to save those involved before the magical properties of this land took its retribution readily from all the components, willing and unwilling. Kravitz recalled his own part in one ritual, drugged, tied up, weak and rendered from his body, before a reaper had come to collect the aftermath of a man’s hubris. The thought of his love, his light, being subjected to such a fate rendered sobs through Kravitz’s whole form. 

A warmth bubbled through him, different from the heat of the water. His Queen, reaching out to his soul, gently touching the edges, soothing his aches and sharp pricks of emotional discourse. Kravitz was warmed from the inside out by her presence, by their innate connection formed at his agreement. Kravitz’s body slowed his shakes, returned to breaths, still unneeded, but slower and deliberate. 

Kravitz was still granted his physical privacy as she prompted an unhurried calling, a summons to her court with the other two of his team. The Raven Queen’s presence fades from his immediate surroundings, pulling back from their bond, but still leaving the warmth gifted to him. 

Kravitz gave himself five more minutes to be upset, before drying, changing into a material suit, and going to fetch Barry and Lup to see why their Queen has called them. 

* * *

Taako had developed a solid routine maximized for efficiency, and defo not for laying around sad thinking about his family. Which was hard to do anyways since all of them were here, just slightly to the left, but Taako scheduled in some long and slow mornings of being sad as shit, in bed eating ice cream Bones two point oh had summoned from the freezer, before the reaper absconded to work. 

Which that’s something. Kravitz here isn’t just a reaper, he is The Reaper, and works So Fucking Much. Which, Taako would hardly stand if having him there wasn’t a double edged sword of being happy and terribly sad when seeing his face.

Taako suffers the same effects, crowded by the facsimile of his family. 

There’s a knock on the bedroom door, followed by a tentative “Sir?” 

Taako sits ramrod straight in his bed, cursing at himself for forgetting any plans that had been made for today. “One sec! One hot sec wonder boy.” Taako rushes for a shirt and a comb, straightens the sheets crumpled, and warm from his body heat. 

When he answers, he tries to pretend he hasn’t been laying in a depressed stupor that is literally written into his mental itinerary. 

Angus is, thankfully and blessedly, the same age as Taako had left him, something he was overjoyed to discover three days into his time here. 

“Hello magic boy! Did we have something planned today?” Taako, for good measure, also looked down the hall towards the guest bedroom, checking to see if his sister was lurking nearby. 

“No, Kravitz asked me to check on you today while he was out! He suggested we go to the local market today, maybe cook something for dinner!” Angus presented the activities with the confidence found in his early teenage years, and the solid background of some good Burnsides parenting. 

“Uh sure,” Taako pushed his plans for further work on reality travel back to a late night tonight in his mind, “We can do dinner, grab something easy for lunch on the way there too?”

Angus beamed up at Taako, and as excited as ever rushed Taako to grab his things and run out the door. 

Taako was always taken aback when leaving his altered self’s home. He figured it was either shock, which Taako had blamed a lot of things lately on, or disorientation of leaving the magical barriers of the house. It was probably a combination of both. Within the house Taako felt bathed in Kravitz’s protective magic, stepping over the threshold came with a sharp increase in its presence followed by a dimming to the back of Taako’s mind. Like it was dormant, waiting for his return. 

But. It was also really fucking weird to see his homeworld minus some advancements made by their year with the light, but added some, normal, time based and mortal advancements. Like it was an actual civilization with fair laws that cared about its citizens. Instead of focusing on space travel as the solution to all of its problems. Overall though, it was dizzying how similar it is to his birth plane. 

Trips outside were made quick and to the point. Taako and Angus grabbed lunch at some food carts, the food which was subpar and heavily critiqued by Taako, and heavily enjoyed by Angus. They only stayed at the market for about an hour, Taako was using every moment to soak up the two suns. 

Team Starblaster had suffered chronically from the vitamin D deficiency, pains, muscle aches, and hair loss plagued the twins much to their displeasure. All of their bodies were a product of millions of years of evolution to work in tandem with the two suns, to absorb their light. Taako had hoped being back in an environment that his body was made for, that it would ease the long-running symptoms of his life, but he figured that he must be spending too much time indoors still, seeing next to no results in easing his symptoms. 

Angus and Taako made quick work of dinner when they got back. Taako still had fresh bread from the day before, and most of the work on the tomato sauce was letting it simmer, boiling noodles, and making the meat balls was easy peasy. Taako could do this in his sleep.

Taako could feel himself ease into the banter shared between him and Angus. It was so hard to remind himself of where he was around boy wonder; this Angus had all the same interests, almost the exact same schooling, minus the years spent in Taako’s Academy, those years were made up by this universe’s Taako tutoring Angus at the high school. 

Everyone treated Taako as if no switch had occurred. After the first week of reintroductions almost everyone settled into the idea of Taako being here, encouraging to part from his work in the basement, to join in wholeheartedly on family activities. It was sort of skeeving Taako out how little  _ this other family _ mentioned the other Taako. Almost like they didn’t mourn him. Everyone had cookie cutter responses of the oddity, had listened to Taako’s short recap of the differences in their lives, had in turn shared their history in the mundane reality. 

“So Taako? I was wondering if you could continue to give me magic lessons?” Angus asked, hands messily shaping the meatballs besides the elf. It made Taako jump a little, being lost in thought. 

“Uh, I don’t know how much time I’ll have for it, trying to get back and all-” Taako avoided looking towards Angus, and the expected puppy face that would go with this attempted rejection, “-and I’m sure you’re like eager for other me to get back, like god I wouldn’t even know where you guys left off, or even if the magic in this plane still functions on the same base principles.” Taako had been meaning to fuck around with spell composition more, he doesn’t get as much done in the lab as he should, between this whole family determined to give him a good ol’ welcome. 

“Oh,” Angus slumped a bit in the corner of Taako’s eye, “I know you have important work and all, but we were making some really good progress, and the high school doesn’t have a very good curriculum on it. I wanted to get ahead now before applying to universities.” Jeez he’s laying it on thick, sad voice, slow movements, Taako’s sweating from this method of integration. 

“Listen bud, I’m positive I’ll get this tech up and running soon-” He wasn’t, Taako couldn’t even remember where he left off last time he was pulled away from it, “-I don’t want to replace anyone here, it’d be realll awkward if other me came back and you leveled up, I bet it’d make him real jealous.” Taako turned to Angus now. Angus’s face was blank, Taako minutely scooted back. He wasn’t prepared for kid tears, let alone alternate reality kid tears. 

“You could though. You wouldn’t be replacing anyone.” Angus replied hollowly. 

“I wouldn’t be replacing anyone,” Taako felt compelled to answer back, the thought bounced around his head more and more. The room felt smaller, his body felt numb, the silence drug up a loud pitch into Taako’s ears. Taako felt life had pressed the pause button on him.

And then there were hands around his waist. And dinner was ready. Taako was standing at the counter, slicing bread, Kravitz’s arms around him, Angus sitting eagerly on a nearby barstool waiting to be served the meal they had prepped together. 

“It smells good, love.” Kravitz said lowly into his ear, from behind. Taako blinked, blinked again, and stepped away, and out of Kravitz’s embrace. 

“Uh, hm. Yah. Thanks,” Taako awkwardly replied. Kravitz was right. Everything smelled perfect, looked perfect, Taako felt like he was a record that had just skipped and found itself back in a familiar grove, it’s pace now smooth. He took a moment to shrug off the feeling. Shock. It’s just shock. 

Taako did what any good cook would do, and he served out portions of the meal. Like most of the events of today, dinner was quick and full of well paced conversation, mostly about collective histories. 

After, Kravitz ripped Angus a portal home, and committed himself to dishes. 

Taako stood stiff, and lukewarm in the doorway, “Okay bones, I’m, uh. Gonna go work on the thing? Ya know. You got me.” Kravitz hummed lightly in response, back still turned, still washing plates. 

“Right.” Taako said as he turned, and walked toward, and down the basement steps. 

He had been collecting scrap and materials from Lup and Barry’s lab. He hoped it wasn’t enough for the university to notice, hopefully not costing the alternate pair’s jobs, but Taako honestly was prioritizing fixing this fucked up switch. 

Each time Taako went to dedicate hours to this project, he really felt how rusty he was in the artificing department; he considered himself damn lucky he remembered the general makeup of the belts back home Barry had worked on.

Fundamentally, planar travel was all based on a modified plane shift spell. Well, thats breaking it down to be exceedingly simple, but all teleportation was built on the back of it’s forefathers of lesser spells. IPRE, with the help of the light, spun bond magic into the ship. Not only to fuel it, but it expand it. It was like, taking love, making it into spell slots, and then just building and building that energy until there was enough to break the bounds of the planar system. 

The belts worked on a much smaller scale, and arguably took more from dimension door than planar shift, Taako’s not going to argue semantics. But, limited bond power meant, non permanent transportation, but at the convenience of single person passage. Instead of strapping a ten foot tall motor to your waist, and tearing more and more holes into the fabric of, whatever the in-between bits were called, the wearer just twisted the fabric. Until it snapped back and deposited you wherever you came from. 

That’s what Taako was starting with, and he had disappointedly, not gotten far. He barely had a strip of what vaguely resembles a belt pulled together from second hand scraps. The inner crunch time grad student in Taako was actually disheartened by how little progress he had made. 

Taako breathed deep, and buckled down for what should be a long night. 

He was barely an hour into work, barely even warmed up to think through these issues, to make connections, when he heard Kravitz step out onto the stairs above. 

“Working hard, or hardly working Taako?” Kravitz asked, an edge of mirth in his voice. 

“Pff, haven’t done anything yet, it’s probs gonna be a late night Bones. Don’t wait up.” Taako expected this conversation to be quick, to at most have Kravitz offer to fetch him water, or more lights for the dark room and gloomy work benches, before being called away on another bounty. This Kravitz was a busy guy and Taako was honestly surprised the man had been able to stick around for as long as he had tonight. 

“You should rest, Taako, you’ve been working so hard.” Kravitz’s voice was calm and smooth. 

Taako’s head swung around to properly look at the reaper, “Huh-- I mean, I've only been down here an hour--” 

“You should rest. Taako,” Kravitz interrupted, and then was closer than Taako thought he was before. 

Taako blinked, numbness, white noise, it all encroached on him again. 

“I should rest,” Taako’s voice was empty. 

“Break this nonsense Taako,” Kravitz moved around to rest his hands on the elf’s shoulders. 

Taako turned to the meager work he had gotten done in the past month, “Break this,” Taako echoed, his head echoed. Metal bit into Taako’s skin as pieces snapped apart from each other. 

“You’re happy here, why would you need this device?” Kravitz’s words brought more white, Taako could only see his hands, concentrate on his hands. 

“I’m-- I’m happy here. Why would I need this device.” This echo was slower in his head, pushed back against, but still came out nonetheless. 

“You’re going to go up to bed. Sleep. And see Lup tomorrow.”

“I’m going to go to bed. I’m going to sleep. I’m going to see Lup tomorrow.” 

“That’s right, go on now,” The hands were pulled back from his shoulders, Taako couldn’t feel them anyways. He could only focus on his own hands, on the sting of pain from the pieces pressed into his palms. He focused on the sensation of fingers, running against the railing of two sets of stairs, the softness of sheets, the cold metal cord of the lamp, shut off. 

Though his bedroom was dark, all Taako could see was white. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! 
> 
> Late but not as late as I thought. Hope y'all are enjoying this and caught onto the danger of Taako's situation. Any theories for what's up? 
> 
> Next chapter will be said meeting with the Raven Queen and maybe a bit more. 
> 
> Again my tumblr is theyjustwalkoffthedamnthing if you want updates on whether I'll be missing the saturday deadline
> 
> Hope y'all weekend went well!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lup gets a shit ton of magic passed through her self.

Kravitz walked calmly, leading the trio down the black obsidian halls, towards the Raven Queen’s throne room. Both Lup and Barry had felt her gentle summons, and were waiting in the home’s living room, back from their continued search with Magnus and Davenport of the north eastern sea line. Without one of the three reapers, the Starblaster crew slowed significantly in their search, relying on the heavily limited location and scrying spells, but it was still progress. Magnus and Davenport gladly took the chance of short reprieve while the two would be gone.

Lucretia was out west, slowly scrying with back up in form of Carey and Killian. The flat plains they were making their way through weren’t known for their danger, but Lucretia valued their presence, fond of the years working closely with the couple. 

Merle had the kids this weekend, and no one was resentful of his slower paced search. The dwarf was also keeping the world’s greatest detective under strict watch. Making sure Angus was actually eating and sleeping. Being surrounded by other kids gave Angus the peer pressure to comply. 

Each of the three reapers felt, and wore heavy exhaustion, which lifted minorly under the dark and warmth of the Raven Queen. She lacked form. But all could feel the shadowed, beastial presence that took up most of the hall, could hear the rustling of feathers. The trio bowed, took note that Istus was joining them as well, and deferred for their Queen to speak first. 

_ Welcome. Kravitz. Barry. Lup.  _ The Queen’s words were felt more than said, a gentle echo filling the chamber,  _ This will not keep you long, I have received information from Tish.  _ She gestured over to another reaper, hidden in the Queen’s darkness. They were younger than Kravtiz, dark skinned and broad. 

Tish stepped forward hesitantly, taking this introduction as their cue to speak, “Right. I was following a wayward soul of the recently departed, near your home Kravitz, I found a small concealed pocket of energy in the woods, around fifty yards away from your property.” 

Kravitz sucked in a breath, he saw Barry and Lup stiffen. 

“What was it?” Barry asked, stepping closer to the half-orc reaper. Tish looked up to the Raven Queen. 

_ They could not identify it. I felt the shape of it through Tish. It’s concealment charm broke when they found it. It feels like a hole, specifically a seam rip through the planes. I believe this bodes a new depth for your search.  _

“Cool cool cool,” Lup lost composure, rubbed at her eyes, sighed with inpatience, “Is there anything else? Is it still there?” 

“It’s very weak. Seems like it has been fading away for awhile. You guys should be able to check it out before it disappears completely.” Tish answered, curt and feeling out of place. They further described the location, marked by a larger tree and path that Kravitz knew of.

_ It is not the gateway it once was. Merely an imprint, a mark of what was there.  _

_ Before you investigate however, my dear Istus has something for you Lup.  _

Tish was summarily dismissed to continue their work, as Lup stepped up to the two goddesses. Hands folding over another as she approached. Barry followed, close, but far enough, slightly doting and nervous for his wife. Kravitz was planted in spot by the knowledge he had not been dismissed yet, but untrusting of his feet to not carry him immediately to check out the anomaly if they moved. He watched warily from his position, but trusted the two goddesses.

Lup waved Barry back further, with an amused smile, and walked further into the presence of the goddess of fate. 

Istus was radiant, clinical, and blinding. The goddess had presented herself as an older woman, same cascading long white hair from Taako’s recollection of her. Knitting yards and yards of stitch. She smiled at Lup, and hummed a pleasing resonate tune. 

“My lovely Lup.” Lup smiled, a bit forced, mostly curious, and gave a small wave from feet away. 

“My lovely Lup, come closer, I would like to share with you Taako’s fate line.” 

Lup’s posture struck up, surprised, “Oh? Has it changed at all?” Now letting eagerness come into her voice. 

Another hummed tone from Istus, her eyes turned down sadly, “No, but I wished to see if there was anything you can gain from seeing the illusion cast on Taako’s line. It is blurred, as always, but I’m hoping you can make something out of it.” Istus kept knitting, while reaching her free hands out-- and Lup’s brain went a little screwy trying to keep up with goddess body mechanics. The elf decided to ignore the incontinuity and lean forward into Istus’s outstretched arms. 

The goddess cradled Lup’s face with warm bright hands, before moving them up to gently rest on Lup’s temples. 

“This may be overwhelming. I do not do this with mortals often, but you are strong Lup. This will be the present. How time is passing for Taako.” Istus had iridescent eyes, Lup felt like all of her being could be read, open as a painting a wall, raw and unfiltered. 

“Okay, yah, I got this. Let’s see what T’s up to,” Lup held Istus’s gaze, and really, really hoped this wasn’t gonna hurt. 

Istus held her gaze for another moment, and nodded, and Lup could see her lips were saying something, but the noise had escaped from Lup’s senses. Sight followed, her view enveloped by white, clinical white, but Lup could still feel the gentle touch of the goddess. 

The white deepened, without changing the blankness in front of her, Lup could feel magic being passed through her mind, reigned in and held back from the speed it wanted to go. She could feel it touch her own magic, could feel a well so deep that it seemed endless in power. She felt like she was suspended above the universe, with all of everything below her, ready to catch her if she fell. It was all dizzying. Lup regrets not establishing a magical safe word, because hot damn this vertigo was pushing into overstimulation fast, her breath was picking up pace. Distantly, she felt her nose began to bleed. A phantom feeling of wet sliding down her face and over her lips.

But then she saw it. 

She saw Taako’s living room. And he was in it. 

The image had large chunks missing, it was not static like a bad reception, more like material scratching out of existence. But she could see Taako, and he was whole, and he was wrapped in an overly large sweater that she recognized from his closet. Lup felt crushed in weight of relief. This was a very good illusion, fooling the goddess of fate that Taako was safe at home, and it fooled Lup on an emotional level too. Phantomly, Lup could feel hot tears spill from her eyes. She was overcome with yearning. Wanting to be near her brother. To touch him, to give him a hug, and never let him out of her sight again. 

_ Taako was there. _

He was sitting on the couch, talking to  _ someone? _

Lup’s focused shifted, to almost an outline sitting next to her brother, it slowly bled, and shifted, taking color and mass from another section of the image, before forming into--- herself. 

But it wasn’t Lup. It was, and it wasn’t. Whatever form was there with  _ her _ brother, was playacting with her brother, was older. And aged. And seemed deeply hollow. 

_ What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck.  _ This was Messed up. This was cruel. This-- illusion was keeping her brother, and Lup wondered sickly if he even knew he was gone. 

Deep breaths. Deep, hiccupy, watery, breaths. Lup looked at the whole scene. 

Taako and her, not her, sitting. Both had coffee mugs, both looked like they had woken up relatively recently. Their hair messed, their clothes casual for comfort. Morning orange light shone in from the eastward facing windows, lighting the whole living room in a way that glowed. It filled Lup up with a sense of home and nostalgia completely. 

The scene went white, but before disappearing entirely, Lup distantly heard the front door open. 

Lup was pulled back to her body and her present, and she was trembling, held in Istus’s arms, head fully supported by Istus’s shoulder. 

The raw edges Lup could feel along her depleted magical reserves, and the splitting migraine had been worth it to see her brother safe from harm. Her arms shook as she backed from the hug slightly, pulling her hands up to wipe the blood from her nose and face, and tear tracks aside. 

“That uh, super sucked.” Lup’s voice was raspy and she didn’t even know how that happened. She felt Istus nod, and beckon someone closer, and then Lup was pulled into the embrace of her husband, his rough hands supporting the majority of Lup’s body weight. 

“Oh hey bud,” Lup let her head lull back to look up at Barry, whose face is grim and whose eyes are watery. 

“Hey yourself babe, that seemed like a pretty rough ride there.” Barry’s voice was watery too, Lup hoped the performance her body did on this end wasn’t too trauma inducing. 

“Yah, it’s like, world's worse migraine, with none of the fun beforehand.” 

Lup turned as she saw one of Istus’s hands reach back towards her, spanning the very small gap between the three of them. 

“Let me help,” the goddess rested her palm onto Lup’s arm, humming another tune, drawn out and slow. Lup’s skin glowed golden, before it settled back. 

Lup had a feeling Istus couldn’t get her back to 100%, on account that Lup wasn’t at her top when she arrived, hadn’t been for weeks, as well as it being Istus’s magic as the burning force that took so much out of her. Lup was not injured, just drained and rubbed raw from a view no mortal should see. But damn if the minor healing didn’t help. Lup’s knees felt like they remembered function again, the taste of blood receded from her mouth, the raw edges of her magic were smoothed over, and gently cooled. 

Lup supported her own weight, but stayed close to Barry, now clinging to him out of emotional comfort rather than a pained one. “Thank you, for all of this.”

Istus smiled, Barry and Lup turned and went back to their original positions, near a worried Kravitz, who was stiff and fiddling with the buttons of his coat, looking Lup over. 

_ You three are dismissed. Go to the riff, discuss what Lup saw. Rest.  _

Barry and Lup managed an awkward half bow while still being entwined in support. Kravitz turned to them as he finished his own, hovering near, if Lup would suddenly lose her strength on the walk out of the throne room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> I'm sort of realizing this is a slow burn in the sense of there's a ton of scenes I want to show y'all, but can usually only write one of them in a week. So I have no idea how long this fic will actually take but I don't mind that. Hopefully I'll get y'all some long form chapters over winter break and really get into the meat of this story. 
> 
> I was also surprised and laughing that y'all branded this as a horror story in the comments, it didn't occur to me this was going to be like Coraline esque horror, but it's here, and I'll stick to that brand. I sent my friend notes for a scene that I desperately want to write now, but I think it will probably take a good bit longer to get to, and they said it came them chills. So excitement to come. 
> 
> Hope y'all week is well! I love all of your comments, keep them coming please!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako gets a brain blast, Lup hugs barry very tightly.

Sensations filter in slowly. The bedding surrounding him as reached the wonderful equilibrium, where he can feel the press of his body heat, but the surroundings are so cool it feels like the body heat of someone else. A heat that acts like it’s source has left, and now he has come to it instead. He can feel the weight of someone sitting near him at the edge of the bed. 

Taako (_ he’s Taako _) can see the light beyond his eyelids, and he can hear his breath. His limbs are weighed down by a long night out of it. Taako feels perfect, and he doesn’t even have to break this spell of calm by needing to pee or relieve some nasty dry mouth. 

“Love?” Honey sweet voice coming from his side, it chuckles before continuing, “You have to wake up now Taako.” 

Taako feels more present at hearing his husbands voice, but his head is still full of fog. Taako blinks his eyes, they drag down in protest, but Taako pushes himself to his side, facing the other. 

“Huh?” Taako is unbearably eloquent during sleepy mornings. 

Kravitz’s skin glows from the sunlight spilling in from the far window.

“You’re going to have a fun day with Lup, but first we need to talk through some things first,” Kravitz is smiling and calm, so Taako is also smiling and calm. 

“Anything bones, anything,” Taako’s eyes are still trying to drag sleepily closed, but Taako knew he needed to pay attention to this. 

Kravitz turned his head and lifted his eyebrows, like Taako was something small, and something amusing, and then Kravitz reaches both hands out and cups Taako’s face. 

“Do you remember how your friends all met?”

  
  
  
  


Taako is dreaming. He is dreaming of soft touches, and a low voice murmuring, images rising up to meet his eyes. 

They didn’t have sound, not really, but Taako felt only one degree removed from them, as if everything was a stage show, and he was a one man audience in the center of it all. The actors responding to lines he’d never said, reacting to movements he wasn’t doing. 

He sees wooden floors, and a large mirror taking up one whole wall of the room, he feels sweaty and sticky, and the humidity of the room clinging to him. There’s an overall sensation of _ let’s just get this semester over with. _ To his right there is a large human, brown skin, dark hair, giggling and pointing past Taako to the man on his left. An old, fucking old, dwarf is there, mimicking the professors stretches with the enthusiasm of a five year old, leaning into each pose, almost tripping over himself. 

It’s different than the laughing man’s shaking posture, or Taako’s direct, to the point half assed mock of the professors movements. It’s like the dwarf actually cares about this class. 

Taako can feel the stuffy room, can smell a badly paced essential oil diffuser, but he can’t hear the soothing music he expects to be there. 

Does he expect it? Why does he? Taako frowns because he’s never been here before. He knows he hasn’t, but he knows the people? _ He knows the people? _ Taako cannot see the cracks but he can feel the cracks in whatever this is, as he stands ramrod straight in a scene that _ echoes? _

Things shift. 

There’s a table made from cheap wood, with scratches of patrons dug in to make inside jokes or stances of possessiveness. Taako is sprawled across the padded bench more than he is sitting in it. Across from him is another human man, but this one is different from the last one. This one's skin is pale and burnt from the two suns shining into the cafe window. His hair is mouse-y brown and neat, but this one is laughing too. 

_ They’re both laughing. Taako you’re laughing too. _

Taako does not know about what, or when it started, but he is laughing. Their giggles die down for a moment, and almost in sync Taako’s head turns with the man’s and there is--- 

Not even the distance of dreams,_ or memories _ , can separate the knowledge from Taako that there is his sister, walking towards him. The solidity of this image, compared to all others takes him aback for a moment. Taako almost doesn’t catch the shy black human woman approaching with _ his sister _. Taako knows at this moment, he did not know this new edition to their small group, but he knows her now. 

Like a settling house, creaking in the silence of a winter night, things change again. 

The room is dim, but warm, almost suffocatingly so. There are bright metallic pieces in front of Taako, tipped and thrown from their respective places on the game board. He knows intrinsically, it has been thrown into the fire to his right. 

Taako is sitting on the floor, across from a well worn couch, where a red haired gnome rests, completely supported by that dwarf Taako had seen earlier. They’re both surrounded, but as each vision flashes by, Taako feels there is only two or three spotlights at a time; and he is always in the center of one.

Everyone is there, but distant, distant but so close Taako. The heart swirls through the air, and the cup in Taako’s hand feels so heavy, and the smooth steel texture almost burns his grip. Taako’s breaths shorten, he can feel the air in this room running out, and he can only escape the feeling _ by closing his eyes _. 

“You’re doing so well Taako, take it all in.” The voice is low, but booming, is sweet but sickening, “Do you remember how we met?”

This, whatever this is, comes faster, _ and sharper _, at Taako, like it’s trying to permanently impress an image into his skin. 

There is a new room now. All of the heat has gone.

The room is cold, and lined with metal, and the floor is a dull grey tile. There’s counter spaces, and a chalkboard in the corner. It feels institutionalized, and dull. _ It’s only lit by candlelight _. 

And there is his sister. She takes Taako’s hands and leads him to that candlelight. It’s a circle, a magic circle. Taako doesn’t know what it means, he can’t read it, it’s a dream. _ He knows he’s been told but he doesn’t know what it means. _But his sister is there and she would never hurt him. 

She’s speaking. Taako can’t hear her. Taako can’t hear anything in this? Whatever this is. He couldn’t hear the music, or the laughing, or _ his crew _ talking, celebrating. He can’t hear Lup now. 

She places him at one point of triangle within the circle. The mouse-y man is here too, and they’re both speaking. They’ve done this before, Taako has seen this before, but in a different place (on a hilltop), and Taako doesn’t know why they’re doing this now because there isn’t a--- ---to fight against, they’re not _ running _ from anything? _ Why would they be doing this? _

Whatever is digging the impression, further pushes, Taako’s head flares with pain. 

Taako is a puppet now. All three of the figures in the room, the lab, raise their hands, and Taako can feel his mouth speak, but cannot hear the words he is saying. Taako feels the spotlight on his strengthen and burned into his skin. 

He does not spend very much time as this scene’s prop, before smoke starts billowing out around him. For a moment Taako thinks it’s him. Caught up in flames from the sudden heat of the place. 

Before his vision pulses an artificial white, and he is no longer standing, but cut loose and knocked aside from an unknown force. His sister is kneeling over him, her face stretched with worry. Taako feels distant now, like falling knocked him clear of the burning spotlight, like all of the heat went to a distant source. He turns, shifts his body to further stare up at the three figures above him. 

His sister, the mouse man, and a dark, cutting, silhouette. 

_ The memory, _something insists this is a memory, the memory speeds up. His sister and, finally, he knows, his brother cannot see the figure, the figure questions him, the figure dismisses the circle. The figure is dark and cold and empty, and Taako is worried about that, because that’s where all the heat had gone, and it is no longer there.

Thing’s twist. 

_ I pay for the wine and pottery. _The figure pays for the wine and pottery, and walks Taako home on a chilly winter evening, and leans down towards Taako when he reaches his house---- Taako’s brain dislodges that, like a skip in a record. 

The figure takes him out to dinner, and to plays, and becomes corporal enough to meet the others in Taako’s group. The figure becomes his boyfriend. And his boyfriend becomes his husband. Taako can see his fingers entwined with darker ones, can see the silhouette of his boyfriend leaning down--- that part, Taako will always skip over now. 

It is the one thing Taako will always avoid here, _ it’s his own damn private life---- _

The voice hums in contemptment, “You did so well Taako. Dreamt so well. Now, you’re going to wake up and have a nice day with your sister.” 

Something tells him. Taako doesn’t do magic now, he lost the taste for it since the lab accident. _ You don’t perform magic now. _

Everything feels like a lie coming from the voice, but Taako cannot acknowledge this on a level that is anywhere close to real. 

_ And then Taako wakes up. _

Taako swallows back the mucus in his throat, and stretches out the sore limbs sprawled around him. There’s no one else in bed with him, and he’s disappointed his husband apparently had such an early start. 

He has plans with Lup today, which mainly include drinking hot chocolate and watching shitty romcoms. It’s going to be a fun weekend before going back to work Monday. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Lup’s mouth tastes like she swallowed a bucket of sand, and now her bones ache, which is wack. But even if she was broken to bits by Istus mind melding with her, she’d still be trudging through this barely there path to see what planar magic had been hanging around like a funk. 

When they arrive, it’s so close to the house Lup can hardly bear it. A fucking portal in their backyard, and a month and a half of searching down the drain because they missed this. Didn’t think to look this close. But it’s here, and if Lup wasn’t a reaper she’d doubt she’d be able to sense it at all. 

It’s barely a shimmer, barely any distortion, very clean cut. Like a paper cut between planes, and after almost two months it threatens to dissipate entirely. Barry’s face looks grim, and Kravitz, who's never seen planar tears, looks underwhelmed and exhausted. 

“Well fuck. Can you dig it open Barry?” Lup is compassionate yes, gentle no. She’d probably dismiss the disturbance before getting within five feet of it. 

Barry approaches, and Lup grabs Kravitz’s sleeve before he goes to fuck about with her husband. 

“Uhh, maybe. I don’t know,” another cautious couple of feet forward, “It looks like it’s ready to fall apart. Defo planar magic tho. That’s good? To know Taako’s at least not here.” 

Lup’s and Kravitz’s faces shoot back looks to convey, that no this isn’t good, and everyone here knows that. 

Barry reaches his hand up, “Let me see if I can get a general direction this went. You know? Lucy might be better for this?” Barry’s eyes blur for a moment, the air around his hand distorts, he’s stopped breathing not wanting to disturb this further. 

“It’s not. It’s not going forward? Definitely taking advantage of an old ‘blaster path.” Barry’s voice sounds without his mouth moving, if he hadn’t spent so much time as a lich, this trick would be a lot harder.

Planar systems are held almost on a planar field. Like marbles rest on a taut blanket, the Starblaster twisted, and shredded it until marbles touched through either side, bending the fabric back over itself. It was messy, and saved their lives, but left snags and tears, that they now took advantage of, with the belts. The Hunger following, and further eating through the paths helped cement the pathways from healing. 

Barry goes to withdraw, he can’t understand where the path is going, all of their lines of travel crisscrossed through the blanket of whatever the fuck lays between, making each path a web, rather than a linear direction. He can tell it isn’t new, despite how clean the doorway for exiting is, there’s something deeply entrenched about it, settled. 

Barry retracts his hand fully, and his eyes focus just in time for the rift to disappear. “Fuck.” 

Lup turns and punches a tree. And then, because she’s a mature adult here, and knows it wasn’t Barry’s fault, she stomps over, no longer held by the boundary of delicateness, and hugs the shit out of her husband. 

Barry knows he will feel a special brand of guilt for this later; but he also knows they were all impatient to get any new information. They have this. 

“So? Ninety-nine worlds? There are ninety-nine planes to look through now?” Kravitz’s voice shakes. It seems like an impossible task, one that could torture him for the rest of his immortal life. 

Barry looks up from Lup who is trying to squeeze the life, and all the frustration, out of him, “Not exactly? Some planes haven’t exactly been returned yet, totally inaccessible. Others don’t have sentient life, like no amount of puppies from the puppy planet could cobble something so elegant as what made that cut. It felt like a straight shot, so no leaving wherever they came from, grabbing Taako, and going to a different plane. It didn’t branch off from here.” 

Kravitz nodded. This is more manageable now. Slightly. Barely. 

Lup retreats from the hug, and rubs her eyes again, “Yeah and, we can at least get a general soul search from each planet as a base. We don’t know if whoever did this can even hide. They might be relying on us never finding that rift, being across planes is the best cloaking you can get from the Raven Queen, half the systems don’t have a death god, let alone one who rules this well.” 

Kravitz’s brows furrowed, “Will that, uh, affect our powers when searching?”

Barry straightened at the question, “Oh! Oh god, that’s interesting. Maybe? Some of our magic was weird depending on the planar layout, like the world where the two planes intersected. So maybe. Who knows how local Raven Queens will even take our presence, I don’t know much about the reaper layouts on them all but, our homeworld ever only had one reaper. That’s why I was able to get into necromancy, less strict about the college students resurrecting dead rats, and more targeted towards like actual crimes.” 

“That is an actual crime Barry.” 

“You know what I mean, like people siphoning energy off of mass killings. Sacrificing kids and stuff, real pieces of work. I used to have squirrel bones dance at parties, reaper never showed up for that.” Barry had the decency to look a little sheepish about that.

“We should call a meeting, get everyone together to talk about this.” Lup started trekking back up as she said this. Barry and Kravitz made noises of agreement before following behind her on the narrow trail. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! 
> 
> I'm late! and by late I mean I didn't post last week, but thats fine because college is beating the shit out of me. 
> 
> I might be late (nonexistent) this next Saturday too depending on how much free time I have during thanksgiving break. 
> 
> I'm excited for winter break though, because I feel like I can actually write more than 2,000 words a week for this. 
> 
> It's also exciting I have only four big projects left for the semester, I'm almost done! Next semester is my last too which is terrifying but oh well
> 
> Hope you guys like this one, I wanted to show memory sense these things, and then leave more hints as to what's actually happening. 
> 
> Next week should be me trying to type a like 10 person conversation coherently, we'll see how that goes. 
> 
> Actually you should probably expect next week to be a no go, and then me getting back to y'all two weeks from now. 
> 
> and as always, feel free to come to my tumblr (same url as this account) as ask about this AU, maybe not for spoilers but if you have any questions about what's happened so far.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako and Lup make bread, Taako experiences a micro-aggression.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Mentions of blood and injury for the end of this chapter

It’s a good day with Lup. Taako feels like he is shrouded in happiness, and beyond the unusually clinginess of his sister things were ordinary. Lup was unseasonably chilly today, it’s understandable for her to initiate more hugs, if not weird since she usually runs hot.

Their day starts with fantastic homemade cocoa, and a gossip fest about the incompetent people in the adjacent university labs. Taako even got to see his beau for lunch, a complete, but not unwelcome surprise. Taako appreciates the lazy days, where he doesn’t have to be at the school, surrounded by kids, and even more appreciative of the nature of his job having most of the grading being done in the consumption of the student prepared meals. His shoulders have lost the tension gained through working in public education, like he’s been on a long extended vacation, rather than taking a lazy day from usual weekend activities. Today is extra rejuvenating with its lax pace. 

Kravitz didn’t stay long, really only have run in after a brief lapse in paperwork, but promised quickly to be home for dinner. 

Taako and Lup spent the rest of the time making cookies, and the bread dough that would proof over the next twenty four hours in the fridge. It was good. Taako felt the work of baking shake out the aches he carried over from the night before. He worked all the stress from that he gathered from, well, certainly from somewhere even if he can’t think of any strenuous activities beyond teaching four classes a day, into the dough; slowly forming a shaggy ball of flour, oil, and water. Teaching was a valid source of stress too, but Taako felt this phantom of  _ something _ . Like he forgot he was supposed to be doing another thing, ungraded assignments, or thinking of the next recipe his students would try? Everything was ready for his return to school on Monday though. 

It must have shown on his face.    
  


“Ya good, T?” Lup questioned, elbowing his ribs, hands still on an identical ball in front of her. 

“Yah, natch, just thinking that your bread there looks a little, you know, inedible. You can see that for yourself though? How you made it absolutely unswallowable?” Taako shook the ghost anxiety off, getting into the groove of offending his sister. A harder, and sharper elbow pushed into him, knocking Taako off balance slightly; he barked out a laugh in response. 

“Oh,  _ I’m sure, _ your’s is gonna be just as much as a disaster, same batch and all. Look at how we both turned out being cut from the same grain,” Lup paused in kneading the bread together, and turned to flick flour into Taako’s face. Which he expertly dodged. 

After a few short exchanges of flour tossed either way, both doughs were plopped into greased and covered bowls. When all of the tossed flour had been cleaned from their hands and counter, Taako broke out a bottle of wine for nice treat for dinner. Well. For a nice treat before dinner, for making dinner, and during dinner. 

Taako didn’t need to be one hundred percent sober for making chicken and dumplings, they’re not even homemade dumplings, they’re the cheap but  _ good _ comfort food dumplings made from store bought biscuit dough. It was easy peasy, most coordination coming from tearing the dough into pieces, and not completely missing the bubbling pot of goodness when tossed in. 

Taako heard the front door open, and his smile widened further, his day just got better. He set his glass down on the counter, smiling towards his sister, before walking (not rushing, Taako doesn’t rush for someone he’s seen just hours before) out towards the hall. 

Taako wrapped his arms around the figure in the hall, laughing into the hug as it’s returned and he is momentarily picked off his feet. 

“I get to see ya for lunch  _ and dinner  _ bones? What a surprise,” Taako pulls back to face his husband. It’s not a surprise since the reaper told him at lunch he’d be back. But it also was kind of surprising that this promise was kept. Taako sort of hated the part of him surprised by Kravitz’s arrival. Kravitz looked tired. Which makes sense since he’s very rarely home. But Taako’s a good ass husband and refuses to let things like, reaping the souls of necromantic criminals leave too much of a bad taste in his mouth. 

“I should be home ‘til bedtime too, got a nice little break in the investigation,” Kravitz replies, ducking down to plant a kiss onto Taako’s lips; Taako holds up a singular finger stopping the action. 

“I’ve got booze breath babe, not a good look,” Taako’s not necessarily lying, he’d been drinking with Lup over the past hour, nothing heavy but. He just didn’t feel like kissing right now. That’s all. Taako ushers Kravitz into the kitchen. 

Dinner was a hearty, and all the more filling with the surrounding company. It warmed Taako up significantly, and hoped the same for both Kravitz and Lup. 

Things wound down pretty quickly to an easy atmosphere between the three, turned four as Barold arrived back from a day with Lucretia and Dav. Taako didn’t question why his sister and friend were staying over. It didn’t occur to him that this was something weird. Taako did know something though, Taako did want to watch a movie, something easy, something nothing, meant to continue his buzz and the calm atmosphere. He could feel a headache coming on, and hoped ignoring it would be enough to banish it. 

The four moved over to their usual spots, Kravitz and Taako side by side (usually Taako’s legs over Kravitz’s, but he’s just not in that touchy of a mood, after the original rush of want when his husband first came home) on the white couch; Lup and Barry on the significantly smaller loveseat. There’s comfort in the solid practice of this, in the routine. 

Kravitz’s hand is cold and solid against Taako’s back the whole film, he couldn’t concentrate on whatever incoherent overly dramatic love story was playing. Not that the group was making much conversation on the movie anyways. He inwardly thanked whatever deity was watching their home tonight for minimal conversation in this latter portion of the day, as a pressure spiked in his temple. Taako drank two more glasses of wine by the end, even having to break for the bathroom at a part that seemed the most inconsequential, but Lup hardly moved; twirling her empty glass in the same repetitive motion. Barry stayed quiet, an easy grin on his face, staring ahead, seemingly enjoying the movie. 

This was fine, people were just tired, this was fine. Everyone was just tired. This was fine. 

Sleep came soon after the movie, Taako semi regretted suggesting the movie in the first place, ignoring the headache hadn’t worked, and the wine did nothing to help. He’d just make sure to drinking some good old curing sink water before bed. Taako gave his sister and Barry fast side hugs, before grabbing the wine glasses to yeet into the kitchen, and rush (now Taako did rush for a good soft bed) toward his bedroom. 

Kravitz left shortly into Taako’s nighttime routine (shucking off his layers upon layers, taking a long hot shower, putting on boxers, drinking in succession two cups of nice cool water, and collapsing into bed) shouting his goodbyes through the master bath’s door and proclaiming to be back by morning. It was easy peasy from there; Taako readily cocooned himself into soft bed. 

If Taako’s life was anymore dramatic, Taako would’ve awoken via clap of thunder, screaming the last throes of his nightmare. As it were, Taako woke abruptly, but silently, and still, before being pulled under into sleep several more times, before finally groaning, and sitting up to rub the images of black swirling masses out of his eyes. 

Taako felt watched. If he didn’t have dark vision he half predicted he’d be seeing shadowy figures beyond his bed. The emptiness of the bedroom almost scared him more. He drew his legs up towards himself, set to breathing deeply, before summoning the courage to slide out of bed. He paused briefly at his door, stalling in putting on his bathroom, and then stalling further out of fear of something waiting out there. 

_ Frame it humorously _ , Taako hears the counselor he doesn’t remember seeing say in his head. Right. So. One, nothing’s fucking out there. He has like, arcane and manual locks on his house, he’s a modern man with a security system. But. Two, are clowns funny? Would it be funny if he opened the door and there was just A Clown standing right there in the frame. Nope. No. Absolutely Not. Wrong direction. What’s funny? Barry, glassesless, tripping over the rug at 3am to get water and accidentally losing his body for this year---- what? Tripping over the rug at 3am to get water and accidentally  _ punching a hole in the plaster of the wall _ , his head corrects. Doesn’t correct. Just remembers properly is what it’s doing.

Anyways that’s distraction enough for Taako to open the door. The hallway, dark and soundless, is empty. The singular moon is even lighting it up modestly through the window toward his left. It’s also only five feet across to Lup and Barry’s room, which is fucking sweet, and definitely just a coincidence and not purposefully planned by either of them in the building of this house. If Taako had to traverse the stairs, being met with the dark pit below, he’d actually just straight up riot. Taako takes three steps over, going slow and purposeful, trying not to run. If he runs then he has to admit he’s scared of the dark, that there is something to be scared of in this dark, and he’s not going to do that. 

Taako puts his ear to the door, not wanting to see anything --- _ untoward _ \--- and listens. No extremely suspect noises, but no heavy sleep laden breathing either. Which, weird, whateves. Almost no noise at all he thinks, before hearing the creek of a floorboard on the other side. Taako thinks about that clown again.  _ Fuck _ . Fuck it. Taako opens the door. 

Taako hits the ground, slipping over his feet as he paddles backwards in the hall.  _ Fuck fuck fuck. _ Lup and Barry are in there, they’re not in bed. They’re both just standing there. Facing away from the door, almost perfectly still, almost being an incredibly keyword, their bodies flicker. Once, Twice, almost blinking. The creek of their weight settling back onto the wooden floors, Taako can now feel displaced air hit him in the beats of their reappearances. 

He scrambles backwards, back hitting the wall next to his own door frame, hand clutched to his mouth to cover the sounds of his heavy and quick breathing. They flicker again, and then out of existence completely, Taako hears the sound of something settling to his right, right on top of the stairs. 

It’s Kravitz. It’s something that looks like Kravitz, Taako flinches to the side, heading to the back of the hall. Kravitz clutches his side and leans heavily to his left, using his scythe as a prop; it takes scant seconds to notice Taako is staring at him from the elf’s position on the floor. Their eyes make contact, and Kravitz begins to lumber forward, speed uninhibited by the bleeding wound on his side. 

Taako hasn’t recovered from his scare, his feet slap hard against the wooden flooring as he propels himself backwards; Taako’s stomach sinks with the knowledge this is a dead end, and he is trapped. 

Kravitz is quick, but paced, and seeing Taako’s frightened face, his face grows empty, maybe annoyed buried under layers of focus. He radiates an energy that is unlabeled in Taako’s chest, like Kravitz is alien and unfamiliar,  _ like he’s angry too. _

“ _ Taako _ ,” it’s sharp and focused, and hits Taako in the chest, as his back hits the wall, “Taako. Honey. Dear. You’re not supposed to be up.” 

Taako’s mouth gapes, Kravitz steps into the moonlight streaming from the window over his head.

“ _ I don’t have the energy to do this nicely, _ ” Taako catches Kravitz’s wrist as the reaper reaches down, but it does little to stop it’s path. Kravitz is strong, and undeterred. Two fingers, two wet fingers soaked in cold, cold blood, press into Taako’s forehead. “ _ Sleep.”  _

And then, Taako sleeps. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said I was going to do an IPRE meeting chapter and jk guess I lied lol 
> 
> Here's the creepy scene I've been waiting this whole fic to write, Maybe IPRE will meet next week, we'll defo get some Lup action in there to go get her boy but, idk what form that'll take
> 
> Hope this is good, I should be back to weekly updates with the semester being over for me. Hey? Real quick congrats to me and everyone who got through this semester, yay us
> 
> I hope this is actually readable because I only proof it like twice after adding a bunch of stuff

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first time posting fic since the 8th grade for me. I wanted to write at least three chapters before putting this up, but that didn't happen so I figured putting chapter one up right now would motivate me to get ahead of the schedule. I want to see if I can update weekly but I'm in my senior year of college so bear with me a bit. I have most of the story outlined, and I think this is gonna be a long 'en. We're gonna get into some unreality stuff later if that squeaks you out at all.
> 
> Title is from Mind Electric by Miracle Musical
> 
> Thank you for reading! Please let me know how this first chapter is!


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